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Chapter 19
Social Interaction
• Conformity - Adjusting one’s behavior
or thinking to coincide with a group
standard.
Psychologist Solomon Asch
designed a classic experiment in
1955 designed to test conformity to
pressure from peers. He asked
participants to look at three lines of
varying length and to compare them
with a standard line. The
participants were asked to indicate
which of the three lines was the
same as the standard line.
• For the first few comparisons, the
associates gave the right answer,
but for remaining comparisons,
they gave obviously wrong
answers. About 75% of the time,
the participant would “yield” to the
others answers because they didn’t
want to be different from the
others.
Asch’s Study
• One of the most important findings
was that if at least one of the
associates gave the correct answer,
the participant was more
comfortable with going against the
group.
Conditions that Strengthen Conformity
•One is made to feel incompetent
•The group is at least three people
•The group is unanimous
•One admires the group’s status
•One had made no prior commitment
•The person is observed
Culture – some cultures are
collectivistic, meaning they place an
emphasis on society, rather than the
individual.

 Need for Acceptance – some people
conform because they don’t want to draw
negative attention to themselves.
 High Numbers – the more people in the
group, the more likely members are to
conform.
• Obedience – the influence that others have
on your attitudes and actions is
considerable.
•Psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted
the most famous investigation of obedience
in 1963.
•Milgram told the participants that the study
was to test the effects of punishment on
memory.
•Each participant acted as the “teacher”,
giving the “learner” a list of words to
memorize and repeat back.
• If the learner failed to recite the list
back correctly, the teacher was to
administer an electric shock which
increased in intensity the further the
experiment went along.
• If the teacher became hesitant at any
point, they were told they should
continue whether the learner liked it or
not.
Milgram’s Obedience Study
• Sixty-five percent of the
participants delivered the full range
of shocks.
• Many showed signs of extreme
stress and discomfort and often
said they wanted to stop.
• So why did they obey??
•Socialization - Experimenter represents a
legitimate authority. Getting up and
leaving would have violated powerful
unwritten rules of acceptable social
behavior
•Foot-in-the-Door Effect – people can
give in to major demands once they have
given in to minor ones.
•Confusion about Attitudes – as people
become more confused about what’s
going on around them, they become less
sure about their attitudes.
•Buffers – when people are protected
from observing the consequences of their
actions, they are more likely to follow
orders.
• Social facilitation refers to the concept
that people often perform better when
others are watching them. The
presence of others increases our level
of stimulation.
• We also try harder when others are
around due to evaluation apprehension.
We don’t want others to think poorly of
us.
• When people are working together
toward a common goal, rather than on
an individual task, they may slack off
and not try as hard. This is known as
social loafing.
• People acting as part of a group feel
less accountable and therefore worry
less about what others think. We call
this diffusion of responsibility.
• In a phenomenon known as risky shift,
people tend to take greater risks as part
of a group than they would as
individuals acting on their own.
• Because many decisions are made by
groups, psychologists have studied
how being a part of a group affects the
decision making process.
• 1. Majority Wins Scheme – the group
comes to an agreement that was
initially supported by a majority of
group members.
• 2. Truth-Wins Scheme – the members
of a group come to realize that one
option is better than others after they
learn more about the choices available.
• 3. Two-thirds-majority Scheme – the
group concurs when two-thirds of their
members come to an agreement about
the correct choice.
• 4. First-shift Scheme – applies to
groups that are deadlocked, or split 5050. If just one person changes their
mind, others may follow and shift as
well.
• Polarization occurs when people within
a group discuss an idea that most of
them favor or oppose. It can be
positive or negative.
• Among groups of people, certain
individuals usually step up to be the
leader. There are different leadership
styles.
• 1. Authoritarian leaders – exert
absolute control over all decisions for
the group.
• 2. Democratic leaders – encourage
group members to express their ideas
and to make their own decisions.
• 3. Laissez-Faire leaders – encourage
group members to express their own
ideas, but take a less active role in
decision making then democratics.